The ongoing game between West Zone and Central Zone in the Duleep Trophy 2022 witnessed a bizarre scene on Friday in which all-rounder Venkatesh Iyer had to walk out of the field after getting hit on the head by opposition bowler Chintan Gaja.
Iyer went off to the mark with a six off Gaja. Next ball, the Indore batter played it right back to the bowler. Gaja picked the ball and threw it back at Iyer in anger, hitting the latter on the head who was down on the ground in visible pain.
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According to an Indian Express report, the ambulance arrived in the middle of the field and the stretcher was also out, but Iyer decided to walk off the field.
Unpleasant scene here. Venkatesh Iyer has been hit on the shoulder as Gaja throws the ball defended ball back at the batter. Venkatesh is down on the ground in pain and the ambulance arrives. #DuleepTrophy pic.twitter.com/TCvWbdgXFp
— Dhruva Prasad (@DhruvaPrasad9) September 16, 2022
He did come back later but couldn’t contribute much. With the help of a six and a couple of boundaries, he scored a 9-ball 14 before getting dismissed by Tanush Kotian in the 37th over.
Earlier on Friday, West Zone were restricted to 252 for 9 at stumps on the opening day of the other semifinal against Central Zone with left-arm spinner Kumar Kartikeya Singh picking up a five-wicket haul.
Coming into the match after making a massive total against North East Zone in the quarterfinal, the strong West batting line-up could not quite live up to the reputation. Despite losing opening partner Yashasvi Jaiswal for a duck, Prithvi Shaw hit a quick 60 (78 balls, 10 fours) and shared a 57-run stand for the third wicket with Rahul Tripathi (64 batting, 137 balls, 5 fours, 1 six).
Tripathi was also involved in a half-century partnership with Armaan Jaffer (23) but Central zone kept striking at regular intervals to keep the West batters in check.
Skipper Ajinkya Rahane, who had hit a double ton in the quarterfinal, fell leg-before to Gaurav Yadav for 8. Jaffer looked in good nick before he hammered a delivery from Karan Sharma (1 for 32) straight into the hands of Aniket Choudhary.
All-rounder Shams Mulani (41) and Tanish Kotian (36) made handy contributions but it did not seem to be enough.
Kartikeya Singh’s scalps included Atit Sheth, Shaw, Kotian, Het Patel and Jaydev Unadkat. His superb effort put the brakes on the West batting line-up.
(With PTI Inputs)
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